OTTAWA -For the first time, Toronto and Ottawa will both be hosting a March for Life on May 9 as organizers mark 50 years of legal abortion in Canada.

The National March for Life in Ottawa has traditionally been the centrepiece for pro-life marches that take place across the country, with many people from southern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area taking buses to the nation’s capital. The decision to hold a separate march in Toronto has sparked fears that it will affect the size of the pro-life crowd in Ottawa, where organizers hope to make a strong impression on Members of Parliament.

“It’s affecting us,” said Matt Wojciechowski, vice president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), organizer of the Ottawa march. “We have no control over this. Our focus is on making the National March for Life the best possible.

“Some buses that have always gone to Ottawa are now going to Toronto,” Wojciechowski said. “Certain schools that had previously gone to Ottawa and attended the Youth Banquet are now opting just to attend a morning trip to Toronto.”

Marches are also scheduled in other cities across Canada, including Victoria, B.C., and Edmonton.

In Toronto, organizers say they are hoping for between 2,000 and 3,000 people to attend their 10 a.m. rally downtown — details had not been finalized at press time — followed by workshops at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto hosted by the U of T Students for Life.

“We’re really pleased with how things are going as far as the word getting out,” said Mike Schouten, director of advocacy for ARPA Canada, one of the organizers of the Toronto March along with the Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (CCBR) and Toronto and Area Right to Life (TRTL).

“We’re starting to hear from people saying ‘This is great! I’ve never been to a March for Life; this works with my schedule. I am coming out with my family, my kids,’” Schouten said.

“It’s a challenge to us to know how many people are going to show up for the actual rally,” Schouten said. “We’re likely going to exceed our expectations.”

Among the speakers for the Toronto rally and workshops are Ontario MPP Sam Oosterhoff; Christina Lee Hoff, a young woman with Down Syndrome whose video “My Life is Worth Living” went viral last year, and Jonathon Van Maren of CCBR.

“The purpose of those workshops is to equip and train pro-lifers to be advocates for preborn children throughout the year,” said Blaise Alleyne, president of TRTL. “Year by year, we march for life, but we want to make sure people day by day are equipped to stand up for pre-born human rights.”

Schouten advises people to register for the workshops via the website (torontomarchforlife.ca) as they expect about 10 per cent of the March attendees to stick around for them.

Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, is committed to attending the National March in Ottawa. He will preside at a Mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica while Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast will preside at Notre Dame Cathedral.

“We are urging everyone to come and join the thousands of people in Ottawa on May 9 as we call upon our Parliament to bring an end to this 50-year long assault on human life,” said Wojciechowski.

An estimated four million abortions have taken place in Canada since the passage of the omnibus bill in 1969 that legalized abortion as long as doctors agreed it was necessary for the mother’s health. That law was overturned in 1988, leaving no legal barriers to abortion.

The National March for Life in Ottawa will feature the producers of Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer at the rally on Parliament Hill.

Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer will also speak at the Rose Dinner in the evening. In the movie, they tell the story of the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who murdered babies born alive after late-term abortions. Though the movie did well in the United States, despite being blocked by many distributors, it has never been shown in Canada. The film was based on a best-selling book by the married couple.

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OTTAWA –Plans for a pro-life march in Toronto on the same day as the National March for Life in Ottawa is evidence the movement is “divided,” says Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

“I guess this shows the pro-life network is divided — we all knew that — and that compromise here isn’t in the cards,” the archbishop said. “Too bad.”

As the National March for Life marks the 50th anniversary of legal abortion May 9, organizers hope a new march planned for the same day in Toronto won’t hurt turnout in Ottawa.

“I instinctively felt it would weaken participation in the March for Life in Ottawa,” Prendergast said. “I guess we’ll see when the March or Marches take place. I would have preferred a united approach and a different day for Toronto, but perhaps this will galvanize more people and the pro-life cause will appear more vital.”

Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto has accepted Prendergast’s invitation to preside at one of the pro-life Masses in the city on May 9 and to speak on Parliament Hill “as he has courageously done so in recent years,” Prendergast said.

While the archbishop has only begun to send invitations to other bishops, he said he expects a “good number will accompany delegates from their dioceses and regions.”

“We are focusing on organizing the National March for Life to make it the best we can,” said Matt Wojciechowski, project manager for Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), organizers of the National March.

He said discussions took place with organizers of the Toronto March about changing the date, but to no avail.

Prendergast noted the date of the omnibus bill of 1969 was May 14 “so other dates around the second Thursday in May could work in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario.”

“These decisions about witnessing to life issues from early on have been taken by lay people and we bishops and priests are pleased to accompany and support them,” Prendergast said. “So while the new Toronto March may weaken the witness in the nation’s capital, I’ll be happy to share the day here in Ottawa with those who come.”

Since news emerged in early February that a coalition of pro-life organizations is organizing a Toronto march on the same day as the National March, CLC has received hundreds of e-mails from supporters, people organizing buses and Church leaders expressing disappointment, Wojciechowski said.

Organizers for the Toronto March say they also have received encouraging feedback.

Mike Schouten of ARPA (Association of Reformed Political Action) Canada and its outreach WeNeedaLaw.ca, says the response to the Toronto March has been “overwhelmingly positive.” He believes the Toronto event complements the National March and others occurring May 9 in other provincial capitals.

“The majority of people we’ve heard from are excited about the opportunity to participate in Toronto if they are not able to make it to the main march in Ottawa,” said Blaise Alleyne of Toronto Right to Life.

Both Schouten and Alleyne say their organizations plan to send representatives to Ottawa and Toronto. The Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (CCBR) is also involved in organizing the Toronto March.

They reject the idea the Toronto March will detract from the National March. They also oppose holding it on a different date because the March will be in solidarity not only with the National March but with marches in Victoria, Edmonton, Winnipeg and elsewhere.

“The reality is the pro-life movement is growing,” Schouten said. “There are tens of thousands who have joined the pro-life movement in the last five years. Those are the people we want to reach.”

Schouten said he is puzzled by CLC’s claim that they were blindsided by news of the Toronto March.

Schouten has been involved in organizing marches in Regina, Edmonton and Victoria. “At no time in any of those processes was I asked, ‘Why didn’t you call CLC?’

“If other pro-life organizations want to take initiatives to engage more people, celebrate that,” he said. “The more people sending the message Canada needs to protect pre-born children the better.”

Conservative MP Arnold Viersen agrees.

“The fact is 300 pre-born babies are murdered each day in Canada,” he said. “They need our voices. Marches in multiple cities will help amplify this critical issue.”

Other pro-life MPs contacted by CCN declined to comment. Often a dozen or so pro-life MPs and Senators come to the steps of Parliament Hill during the pre-march rally.

OTTAWA – Pro-life advocates are outraged following an announcement that Canada will grant $8 million to Marie Stopes International (MSI), the world’s largest abortion and abortifacient drug provider which is under investigation in two African nations for illegal activity.

Matthew Wojciechowski, project manager and expert on United Nations policy with Campaign Life Coalition, called grants that promote abortion in the developing world “literally ideological colonization.”

It’s “worse than that” because “you’re spending Canadian tax dollars for agencies that use the tax money to undermine” that country’s sovereignty and the “rights and deeply held values of families that have been living there, their culture and traditions.”

Michel MacDonald, executive director of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, pointed out that MSI has been banned in Kenya and Niger “for promoting and providing abortion — actions which are illegal in both countries.”

Obianuju Ekeocha, founder and president of Culture of Life Africa, called it “very unfortunate that Western nations continue to ignore the voices of the majority of the African people who do not want and are not are asking for abortion, any kind of abortion care, as well as contraception.”

“Africans are asking for food, education, clean water and security because of threats from terrorist groups in some of the African countries,” she said in a Skype interview from Britain. “We are not asking for condoms, contraception or sexuality education, that kind of advice, or abortion given to us by Western donors.”

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the $8-million grant on Nov. 13 as part of a $104.4-million overall commitment made while attending the International Conference on Family Planning in Kigali, Rwanda. The money is part of $650 million Canada committed worldwide in March 2017 to fund reproductive health, including abortion.

Canada has given the British-based MSI a total of $24.3 million since 2017. The $8-million grant, which is not allocated for any specific country, is in addition to previous grants of $4 million for Sub-Saharan Africa and $12.3 million for projects in Tanzania.

On Nov. 27, Niger ordered the closure of two MSI facilities because of illegal abortions. According to a Reuters report, MSI did not respond to the accusations but said it is cooperating with authorities and other centres it operates in Niger remain open.

Two weeks earlier, Kenyan authorities banned MSI from providing any type of abortion services after an investigation into a breach of advertising laws found that MSI reportedly violated the law by promoting abortion services over radio networks.

Abortion in Niger and Kenya is illegal unless a mother’s health is at risk.

“It’s great to see two African countries standing up against Marie Stopes International,” said Ekeocha. “There are many more African counties that have begun to question the work of MSI in their villages and their cities.”

A spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada said government policy does not permit funding abortions in countries where it is illegal.

“Canada’s safe abortion programming is delivered in accordance with the legal and regulatory frameworks of the countries where we work,” said Maegan Graveline in an email.

Ekeocha pointed out that even if Canadian grants are not directed specifically to countries where abortion is illegal, it frees up money for MSI to remain active in those countries.

“MSI has been caught out in violation of laws in different African countries,” Ekeocha said. “I would like Canadians to look again at the nature of what their government is doing internationally.”

MSI not only performs illegal abortions, money from its Western donors goes into lobbying African governments “so they come closer to legalizing abortion, giving them a bigger market for abortion,” Ekeocha said.

VATICAN – Caring for the sick, especially those near death, cannot be reduced simply to giving them medicine, but must include providing healing and comfort that gives their lives value and meaning, Pope Francis said.

"Serene and participatory human accompaniment" of terminally ill patients is crucial at a time when there is a "nearly universal" push for legalizing euthanasia, the Pope said Oct. 1.

"Especially in those difficult circumstances, if the person feels loved, respected and accepted, the negative shadow of euthanasia disappears or is made almost nonexistent because the value of his or her being is measured by the ability of giving and receiving love and not by his or her productivity," he told participants in a five-day conference on ethical health care at the Vatican.

The Oct. 1-5 conference was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and led by Auxiliary Bishop Alberto Bochatey of La Plata, Argentina, and the Health Consensus Foundation, an Argentina-based organization comprised of local and international health care providers, according to the conference website.

The meeting, it said, focused on helping health care managers develop a "concept of bioethics in decision-making."

In his address, the Pope told participants that health care, especially in Latin America, is in turmoil due to the economic crisis facing several countries, causing difficulties in developing new treatments and providing adequate access to therapies and medicine.

Although doctors and health care providers may agree that miracles aren't feasible when it comes to health care, the Pope said that the true miracle is "finding a brother in the sick, in the abandoned person in front of us."

"We are called to recognize in those who are on the receiving end the immense value of their dignity as a human being, as a child of God," he said. "It isn't something that can, on its own, undo all the knots that objectively exist in systems, but it will create in us the disposition to untie them in the measure of our possibilities and, additionally, make way for a change of mentality within us and society."

The primary inspiration for people working in the field of health care, the Pope added, should be the "search for the common good" which isn't an abstract ideal but "a concrete person, with a face, that suffers many times."

Pope Francis also encouraged them to "be brave and generous" when caring for their patients, "especially the poorest, who will know how to appreciate your efforts and initiatives."

"We must continue to fight to keep this link of profound humanity intact," the Pope said, "because no health care institution can replace the human heart or human compassion."

It would seem the war over euthanasia is over, but the fight is not ending for Alex Schadenberg.

Twenty years after launching the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, his will to battle is still strong, even when the highest court in the land strikes a blow against your cause.

“There has to be a voice and we will continue to be that voice,” says Schadenberg.

So-called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has been available since June 2017 to those seeking a doctor’s aid in ending their life. Statistics Canada numbers released in June show that more than 3,700 people have taken advantage of what the court has said is their right to die.

The executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Canada is carrying on, like he has for the past 20 years. The coalition has become a world leader in fighting euthanasia, promoting hospice-palliative care, advocating on issues surrounding the cause and building compassionate care community services as alternatives to euthanasia.

The Catholic Register caught up with Schadenberg in mid-September as he awaited a flight to take his message to Europe. It’s a cause he has embraced since he helped found the coalition in 1998 when the issue was barely on anyone’s radar.

Sure, the Robert Latimer case was fresh in people’s minds as the Saskatchewan farmer was before the courts charged with killing his severely disabled daughter, Tracy, in what he termed a mercy killing. Latimer would eventually be convicted of second-degree murder.

“We knew at the time with what was going on with the Latimer case, which was in its second trial at that point, and the attitude of Canadians, it was coming our way whether we liked it or not,” said Schadenberg, who with Dr. Barrie deVeber and Jean Echlin launched the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Still, it was not a front-burner issue for Canadians nor their elected officials. Occasionally voices would be raised calling for the right to allow those suffering from terminal illness to be allowed to end their life. But the coalition was secure in knowing it had many allies in the medical field and in the corridors of power who were adamantly against euthanasia.

Then the courts entered the picture. In 2012, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lynn Smith declared Canada’s laws against physician-assisted suicide were unconstitutional because they discriminated against the physically disabled. The inevitable challenges to the ruling eventually wound their way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where Smith’s ruling was upheld. And today, Canada has joined the Netherlands, Belgium and a few other jurisdictions in allowing the terminally ill the option of choosing an assisted death.

Despite the losses in the legal realm, Schadenberg said he will not give up hope.

“I think this is absolutely wrong,” he said. “It’s an issue of justice that a culture would think it’s OK for its doctors to kill people. There’s got to be something that’s wrong with that. It doesn’t quite make sense to me that we would entrust that action to a group of people.”

There remains many ways the message can be spread, and while the goal remains to change the law, Schadenberg knows that will be tough.

“We have our focus on people who are faced with this question now and how you help them and protect them,” said Schadenberg. Many people are facing tough times “and this issue is dangling before them.”

There are also concerns around conscience issues to be fought, as the College of Physicians and Surgeons Ontario is forcing objecting doctors to refer patients for assisted suicide. That is currently under appeal. And the language of the legislation is of concern as there is a movement to open assisted suicide to more people.

Over the years, the coalition has produced a number of books and films to highlight the cause, as well as a monthly newsletter. Schadenberg has crisscrossed Canada and beyond to make the case against euthanasia, helping start groups in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and Europe. The coalition also hosts an annual conference, taking place in Winnipeg this year Oct. 27.

MANCHESTER, England – A Catholic bishop has praised a decision by the British government not to impose exclusion zones around abortion clinics throughout the country.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced Sept. 13 that a national policy of buffer zones would "not be a proportionate response" to claims that some pregnant women were being harassed by people praying outside abortion centers.

His decision was welcomed by Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster, who said it struck a balance between "the rights of people to gather peaceably and the rights of others to be free from intimidation."

"We recognize that there are members of the public, often associated with churches, who gather peacefully to pray outside abortion clinics and witness to the good of human life in a dignified way," he said in a Sept. 17 statement sent by email to Catholic News Service.

"It is an unacceptable situation if any people harass or intimidate women visiting clinics, even if such situations are rare," he said. "It is clearly not the case that all action is of this nature, and the distinctions between persons and groups should be examined further."

"We agree with the home secretary that everyone has a right to peaceful witness," the bishop added.

In a Sept. 13 written statement to the House of Commons, Javid noted that some women had said they had their paths blocked or had been followed or were shown graphic images of aborted fetuses.

But he said that "what is clear from the evidence we gathered is that these activities are not the norm, and predominantly, anti-abortion activities are more passive in nature."

"The main activities reported to us that take place during protests include praying, displaying banners and handing out leaflets," said Javid.

He said existing laws provided protection against harassment, adding that just 36 out of 363 abortion centers in England had experienced any pro-life activity at all.

In April, Ealing Council in London became the first and only local authority in England to impose a 100-meter buffer zone around a clinic following complaints of harassment denied by pro-life activists.

At about the same time, the Home Office began to investigate pro-life witness outside abortion clinics nationwide.

Abortion providers had hoped the review would result in the imposition of buffer zones around every clinic.

Clare Murphy of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a chain of UK abortion centers, said in a Sept. 13 statement, posted online, that her organization would "now look to work with councils" to establish buffer zones one at a time.

Javid's decision was also criticized by Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labor Party, who said in a Sept. 13 tweet that it represented a "shocking failure to protect women from harassment and intimidation when exercising their right to choose."

But Alina Dulgheriu, a former nanny who has lodged a legal challenge to the buffer zone at Ealing, was among those who expressed relief at the decision.

She said the practical help that she received from pro-life counselors when she went for an abortion made her feel as if she had a genuine choice about her pregnancy, and she kept her baby.

"I am forever grateful to these mothers who selflessly give up their time to offer help to women like me," she said in a Sept. 13 statement sent by email to CNS. "If it weren't for the real practical and emotional support that I was given by them, my daughter would not be here today."

A petition demanding conscience rights for doctors who oppose assisted suicide is the first move in a multi-pronged strategy to persuade Ontario’s new government to enshrine such rights in law.

By the end of July, more than 5,600 signatures had been gathered on an online petition launched earlier in the month by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC). It is aimed at Christine Elliot, Ontario’s new Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, and Premier Doug Ford. Its goal is 10,000 signatures.

The coalition is also asking supporters to join a letter-writing and phone campaign to have Ford’s Conservative government enshrine in legislation conscience rights for Ontario health professionals.

Since euthanasia was made legal in June 2017, Ontario doctors have been required to either provide the service or give patients an “effective referral” to a doctor who does. The petition asks the government to pass legislation protecting conscience rights of health care professionals who object to any type of participation in so-called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).

“Doing this online petition is just a simple thing, but phoning and sending letters is far more effective,” said Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. “Our hope is that they’ll get the message that this is an issue that we expect them to get done.”

Ford made protecting doctors’ conscience rights part of his election platform, and Schadenberg is mildly surprised that it wasn’t on the agenda when Ford convened the legislature in mid-July shortly after being sworn in June 29.

“A little reminder might be all it takes,” said Schadenberg. “We’re not here to make an enemy of the new government. We’re here to say this is a necessity.”

Since being legalized, more than 3,700 Canadians have died via euthanasia, according to Statistics Canada.

Meantime, the Christian Medical and Dental Society is proceeding with an appeal of a court ruling in favour of a policy of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario that requires doctors who oppose euthanasia to give patients an effective referral. The court agreed the policy violates doctors’ Charter rights, but ultimately ruled the infringement was outweighed by a patient’s right to access a legal medical service. Written arguments were filed in the Ontario Court of Appeal on July 30.

The court case, however, would be moot if the Ontario government passes legislation similar to a law in Manitoba which says health care workers cannot be forced to go against religious or ethical beliefs.

“We’re not saying come up with anything new, just change the odd word from the Manitoba bill and you have a bill for Ontario,” said Schadenberg.

A ministry spokesperson did not respond by deadline to The Catholic Register’s request for comment

Schadenberg believes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is on his side.

“Conscience rights are absolutely something that must be upheld and it’s crazy that we’re even having this conversation,” he said. “The Charter speaks for itself. Everyone has fundamental freedoms. And (at the top) is freedom of conscience and religion.

“We’re not recreating the wheel here. Manitoba did it. Ontario must do it too.”

“The League is actively in discussions with various groups contemplating our future steps,” said League president Phil Horgan. “We were pleased to see the groups such as the B.C. Civil Liberties Association intervene in support of Toronto Right to Life.”

Toronto Right to Life Association is one of two legal actions against the federal Employment Minister for the mandatory attestation that the group’s core mandate supports the Charter and underlying values, including, as explained on the government website, a “right” to abortion.

A second lawsuit involves an Alberta family-owned business that is being represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is looking at both those cases “as well as other possible challenges to the attestation,” said Julia Beazley, the EFC’s director of public policy. “We are collaborating with the Canadian Council of Christian Charities and Christian Legal Fellowship on a legal strategy. The EFC plans to intervene in one or more cases.”

The legal route is being explored just as an Angus Reid poll emerged showing Canadians are evenly split (50-50) on the fairness of the attestation requirement. When it comes to Canadians’ views on abortion, the poll showed 39 per cent want no laws on abortion, with a woman having a “right to the procedure at any time in pregnancy.”

Only 12 per cent of Canadian respondents want severe restrictions on abortion, while 49 per cent want some restrictions, such as limits on late-term pregnancies.

Horgan said the League is in discussions with other groups about legal action against the attestation, and is “considering its options as one of the groups denied funding” in 2017, before the attestation policy was put in place for 2018 applications. The Toronto Right to Life Association sued the federal government and won after it was denied funding in 2017 with no explanation.

Dozens of Catholic organizations, including cathedral parishes in two dioceses, did receive Canada Summer Jobs grants that the bishops have asked to be returned.

However, the EFC has discovered a small number of groups that objected to the attestation did receive funding.

“We’ve heard about more than 20 evangelical groups who sent in their applications with either alternative attestations or qualifying letters and were approved,” Beazley said.

“The only consistency is that these groups all checked the box, while still expressing their objection or qualification in some way,” she said. “However, there were many, many other groups who did the same and were denied.”

LIVERPOOL, England – Pope Francis said he was mourning the death of English toddler Alfie Evans, who died four days after doctors withdrew his life support system.

The 23-month-old boy died at about 2:30 a.m. April 28 after his father, Tom Evans, spent 10 minutes trying to revive him by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, according to reports in the British media.

Tom Evans, a Catholic, announced the death of his son on Facebook later that day with words: "My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30 ... absolutely heartbroken ... I LOVE YOU MY GUY."

Soon afterward, Pope Francis, who had met Tom Evans at the Vatican April 18, tweeted: "I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace."

The Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome offered to care for Alfie, although doctors who examined him said not much could be done but to make him comfortable. On April 23, the Italian government granted citizenship to the boy so he could be evacuated by a waiting air ambulance.

But that same day, Alfie was taken off his ventilator, and he was expected to die imminently. He began breathing unaided, prompting appeals by his parents to the High Court and then the Court of Appeal to allow their son to leave the country.

Judges upheld the original decision that it was in the "best interests" of Alfie, who suffered from a severe degenerative brain condition, to be allowed to die.

Tom Evans, who had been highly critical of Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, ceased to give media interviews April 26, saying he wanted to cooperate with doctors in the hope Alfie might be taken home.

His inability to remove his child from the hospital led to passionate demands from politicians and media commentators for an "Alfie's law" to allow parents to seek help elsewhere when doctors believe they can do no more.

The case had also drawn criticism of the British courts and health service from all over the world.

In the U.S., National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said in an April 29 statement that "no parent should ever be forced to the sidelines while the government decides whether their child will receive medical treatment or not."

Tobias said: "Let's be clear: Alfie Evans was sentenced to death by Britain's National Health System (Service) and the High Court. Their intransigent commitment to the country's faulty single-payer health system led them to conclude it was better for Alfie to die than leave the country and receive potentially life-saving treatment elsewhere."

The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has defended of the actions of the hospital, however.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool said he discussed the case personally with the Pope and has assured him that Alder Hey had done everything "humanly possible" to help Alfie, according to an April 25 report in The Tablet magazine.

Following the death of the boy, the archbishop praised the professionalism of the staff of the hospital in a statement posted April 28 on the website of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

"I would like to express my deepest sympathy at this moment of loss to Tom and Kate as we hold little Alfie in our prayers," said Archbishop McMahon.

"We must recognize that all who have played a part in Alfie's life have wanted to act for his good, as they see it," he said. "Above all, we must thank Tom and Kate for their unstinting love of their son, and the staff at Alder Hey Hospital for their professional care of Alfie."

So far, a date has yet to be announced publicly for Alfie's funeral, but it was expected to take place in Liverpool within two weeks.

VATICAN – The Italian government granted citizenship to Alfie Evans, a seriously ill British toddler, in a last-minute effort to prevent doctors in England from withdrawing life-support.

The Italian foreign ministry, in a brief note April 23, said Angelino Alfano, the foreign minister, and Marco Minniti, the interior minister, "granted Italian citizenship to little Alfie."

"The Italian government hopes that being an Italian citizen would allow the immediate transfer of the baby to Italy," the foreign ministry said.

The baby's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, lost their latest legal battle April 23 to prevent doctors from removing Alfie's life-support when the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene.

Doctors in the U.K. have not been able to make a definitive diagnosis of the 23-month-old child's degenerative neurological condition, but they have said keeping him on life-support would be "futile."

A high court judge backed a lower court's ruling that the hospital can go against the wishes of the family and withdraw life-support.

Tom Evans flew to Rome and met Pope Francis April 18, begging the pope to help get his son "asylum" in Italy. The Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome has offered to care for Alfie. Three specialists from Bambino Gesu had flown to Liverpool and examined Alfie. According to the president of Bambino Gesu, "a positive outcome would be difficult, but the baby's suffering can be alleviated."